PARAPHERNAUTICA
Setting off into the sunset but still need to stay connected? Well, stopping your mail is so 2010. Brian K. Lind introduces Dockside Solutions, a way to connect with your life on terra firma, analog style.
Releasing our docklines and taking off on a grand adventure doesn’t mean we can cut ourselves off from our bills and other mail. There are several businesses that offer mail forwarding so you can receive your (now) past-due bills and useless catalogues in far-off ports of call. We caught up with Angela Brosius at the Seattle Boat Show and learned all about how she is making mail services easier for extended travelers and cruisers through Dockside Solutions, the company she founded six years ago.
Angela and her husband have lived aboard their sailboat for 18 years, raising two children along the way. After working at a small mailbox company, she started to see a need for a unique mail service for traveling customers; especially cruisers.
Here’s how it works. When mail arrives to your private mailbox at Dockside Solutions, they scan the envelopes and upload them to a shared Dropbox account and email you a notification. This allows you to see your mail as you get it instead of waiting for it arrive at the next port. If you see mail that needs attention, you can have it forwarded or you can have it opened, scanned, and uploaded. Mail that you don’t need can be shredded on site. This service helps eliminate the costly forwarding of junk mail and allows you to stay on top of bills and other urgent matters.
Since Dockside Solutions is managed by boaters, they can help cruisers with specific issues that arise. Once, they received an email from a customer who was half of the distance from Mexico to the Marquesas Islands, wondering how they could get a much-needed replacement part. Dockside Solutions worked with them to order, receive, and ship the replacement. It was waiting for them in the Marquesas when they arrived. That’s not the sort of service you get from your average mail forwarding company.
Best yet, while Dockside Solutions is in Seattle, they provide mail services for travelers from all over who are off visiting different parts of the world. Dockside Solutions makes the connections you must keep to the outside world a little easier to manage. n
More at: dockside- solutions.com